David Moyes hopes Theo, sorry, Thilo Kehrer can be for West Ham what Phil Neville was for Everton.
Moyes admits he has been struggling to get the former Paris Saint-Germain player’s name right since he signed on Wednesday for £10.1million. “I’ve been calling him Theo,” he said, “I have been calling him everything.
“Whatever happened to John? They think I’m losing it. I’m calling him all sorts. I’ll have to get him a nickname, I’ll call him T.”
But one thing the Scot does know for sure, though, is that in the 20-cap Germany international, who could start against Brighton on Sunday, he has landed a proper Mr Versatile who could also turn out to be a great leader.
He said: “When we were recruiting him, we were watching him sometimes at right-back and left-back for PSG, sometimes the same for Germany. I’d watch him player centre-back for PSG sometimes but they had so much of the ball you didn’t see how he was under pressure that much. But he’s very confident with both feet and he’s going to give me a lot of help at full-back going forwards.
“I possibly see him being a better centre-half in a back three but, at the moment, we don’t have many centre-backs to choose from, so we’re short a little bit, and I’m hoping his versatility is something we can use. He has actually played as a holding midfielder for Germany as well.”
As well as working for him, Neville’s versatility arguably counted against him at times, too. Moyes added: “Maybe Thilo would think like that as well. Nev could play midfield, right-back and centre back as well.
"He was a great leader more than anything and obviously learnt his traits from the people he’d watched at United. He was a great leader and Thilo has a bit of that about him as well. Nev was a great captain and when he was leaving Phil Jagielka was taking over.
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“I said, ‘You need to see what Nev’s doing, Jags, the work he does off the field for the manager as well’. There’s a little bit of Mark Noble and Declan Rice in it as well. Nobes was great off the pitch and Phil was the same, he put out a lot of little bush fires for you if they were burning. He was great in the dressing-room when it was required.”
Another new boy, Gianluca Scamacca, was on target with Michail Antonio and Jarrod Bowen in the 3-1 victory over Viborg on Thursday and could also start against Brighton. But Moyes knows Antonio isn’t just going to step aside and let someone take his place as the central striker.
"He said: “I said for someone coming in, trying to replace Micky and what he has done for this club in the last two-and-a-half years, will be some job as Micky has been talked about, been a star, put on a show and been terrific in the way he has worked for the team and he is a really difficult replacement. That’s why Gianluca has to be given the time as we go on and Micky is far from moving aside.”
